Inspired Color

The color of our kitchen cabinetry sometimes seems to be a soft and mellow yellow. John calls it ‘primrose.’

However, depending on the lighting and time of day, and perhaps your mood, it may appear to be a sharp citrus yellow with a lime green twist.

When we specified the custom color for our kitchen cabinets we thought the lively yellow might be a bit controversial, but so far everyone seems to like it (or everyone has been very polite).

On Saturday we met our new next door neighbors and asked them over for a drink. I am sure John and I are going to get along just fine with Jeff and Emily, because as soon as they came into our kitchen, Jeff said “I love the color.”

Before the end of their visit, we were giving them the full house tour, including the basement. We enjoy showing visitors that behind one of our “pantry” doors is the stair to the basement.

We thought it was a good sign that the new neighbors were game to explore. It can be a little scary venturing down to the unfinished basement. Jack won’t go there.

We were keen to show our visitors the inspiration for our kitchen color scheme. Straight ahead at the bottom of the stairs sits the old fridge that used to be in my parents’ garage.

Its white and chrome door opens to reveal a butter yellow interior with silver aluminum accents.

I remember telling John I had an idea for our new kitchen colors based on this fridge — a jazzed up version of the butter yellow for the cabinets, with white countertops and stainless steel and chrome accents (and some walnut wood for a warm retro touch). I knew John would go for the color scheme – because he loves this old fridge (see A Cool Classic posted February 27, 2013).

As our vintage refrigerator shows, inspiration can be found in unexpected places.